And Stephens won’t mind a bit if he has to fight for his place back on his return in time to face Colchester United next Tuesday.

“I miss the Peterborough game but I want us to go there and win as comfortably as possible, hopefully get another clean sheet and for whoever comes in to do really well,” he said.

“Then it’s up to the gaffer who he picks to play against Colchester and up to me to work hard in training to get back in the team.”

The 22-year-old, who has made eight appearances for the Sky Blues since signing on deadline day, has been named as part of the England U-21 side to take on Switzerland in their UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier.

The game is being played at the Stockhorn Arena, Thun, on Saturday. City will also be without Adam Armstrong and James Maddison for the trip to London Road.

“It’s come at a difficult time for me because we have just kept two clean sheets and it would have been nice to carry on by going to Peterborough to try to get another,” said Stephens, who has mixed feelings about his call-up.

“But it’s an honour to be called up and something I am very proud of so I’ll be looking forward to it.

“But I will be back here on the Sunday to prepare for Tuesday’s match.”

Like the rest of his team-mates, Stephens still firmly believes City can make the play-offs after stopping the rot of defeats and taking four points from the last two games, the latest against an in-form Swindon side.

“We knew what they were about, a very good footballing side who like the ball but that’s one of our strengths as well,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a good game and just a case of trying to take our chances and limit their chances.

“They are a really good side, gone seven unbeaten now, so we knew it was going to be tough and not just a case of turning up and playing them off the pitch. I think it was a point gained and hopefully we can push on from here.”

He added: “It’s still very much in our hands. We have games against teams all around us in the next few weeks and teams are going to drop points. There’s a long way to go and we just have to make sure we try to get a bit of consistency and pick up some points and see where we get to.”